


And Then There Was One

by SeafoamSoul



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 19:15:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17065520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeafoamSoul/pseuds/SeafoamSoul
Summary: The Wyatt Family is broken up and everyone else has moved on. Except for Luke. He doesn’t know where to go from here, all he knows is that he’s alone and has to find his way. Until you help him.





	And Then There Was One

“Luke?” I called, poking my head in the doorway that led to his locker room. “Are you in here?”

I didn’t get an answer so much as an uninterested grunt from the back corner of the dark room. Sighing, I stepped inside, closing the door behind me before blindly groping along the wall for the lightswitch. I blinked harshly as the lights came on before scanning the room to find Luke slumped over on the couch in the corner. He was wearing his hoodie, zipped up all the way, the hood thrown over his face.

“Luke?” I asked again, moving towards him.

“What?” he grumbled, not moving a bit.

“Come on, Luke. The show is about to start.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not like I’m doing anything tonight. Again.” Finally, he sat up, tearing the hood off of his head. “I’m wasting my time and everyone else’s even showing up.”

“That’s not true,” I scolded, sitting next to him. “You’re not wasting anyone’s time. You’re needed here.”

“To do what? Sit in the back and stare at a monitor? Ever since they broke up the Family, I’ve been useless. Randy gets all the opportunities in the world while I’m stuck here in the back like an unwanted stepchild.”

“You’re so dramatic,” I sighed, shaking my head at Luke’s words.

“Am I being dramatic or truthful?” he countered, dark eyes bearing into my own.

My heart broke at the look in his eyes. He was tired, that much was obvious. He was tired and felt like he was being ignored, like he was useless. I had tried over and over again to explain to him how important he was, how great he was. And yet, here he was, breaking down further after every week.

“Okay, Luke, I get where you’re coming from, but-” I began, trying to get him out of this funk.

“There’s no ‘but,’” he said, cutting me off. “Bray is off on Raw, and I’m sure he’ll get back in touch with Braun at some point. Randy is being used every week for some reason. I’m alone.”

“What about Erick?” I asked, perking up slightly. Maybe if Luke could get back with Erick, he would feel better about this whole thing. He’d be with someone he knew, someone he was comfortable with, and then he wouldn’t feel so alone.

“No one even knows where he is,” Luke grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. “He’s out there doing who knows what while everyone else is successful and I’m just. Here.”

“Okay, okay. I get it. But maybe if you came out to catering with me, you’d feel a little bit better,” I said, tugging on the sleeve of his hoodie. “Please?”

“I’m fine right here,” Luke said simply, reaching up with his free hand to pull his hood back over his eyes.

“You can’t sit here alone all night,” I argued, eyes narrowed at him. “I won’t allow it.”

“There’s nothing you can do about it.”

I sighed, foot tapping against the floor. Luke wasn’t looking at me, his eyes closed under his hood. I sat there for a while, desperately trying to think of something, anything, to say to get Luke to follow me. Despite how fast my mind was working, I couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Fine,” I finally grumbled, standing up from the couch and storming towards the door. “You’re not making any sense to me, Luke,” I called back to him from the doorway.

“Turn off the lights on your way out,” came his reply, voice low.

I let out a huff, ignoring his request before slamming the door shut behind me. It took me a moment outside of his door for me to calm myself down. I cared about Luke, of course I did. Sometimes I think I cared a little too much. But it was times like this, when I wanted so desperately to help him but he wouldn’t listen, didn’t even want to change anything, that made me want to scream. I understood that he was struggling, that he had a lot of things he was dealing with, but I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t listen to me, why he wouldn’t accept my help.

After a few deep breaths, I had calmed down enough to think clearly again past all the rage that I felt after my conversation with him. And that’s when it hit me. I had the perfect plan, the best idea, to get Luke back into the swing of things. I just needed a little help and to have a conversation with one Daniel Bryan.

=============================

“Luke!” I called, running after him down the hallways of the hotel we were staying in. He was heading to his room, somehow having made it to the hotel before I did.

It had been two weeks since his most recent emotional breakdown, and I finally had the opportunity to talk to Daniel. He seemed to like my idea, and was more than willing to bring it up to creative. Now all I had to do was talk to Luke about it, see how he would feel about it.

It didn’t occur to me until after Luke had turned to face me that I probably should have talked to him first.

“What?” he asked, stopping short in the hallway.

“I have good news!” I sang, stepping in front of him. “I talked to Daniel about you feeling lost and he said they’ll find something for you! Soon! He said as soon as next week you should be back into the thick of it!”

“You did what?” Luke’s voice was deadly serious, hitting a lower register than it normally did. His face was calm, not showing any emotion, and I felt myself waver slightly.

“I, um. Talked to Daniel. To help,” I repeated, much less sure of myself than before.

“You went behind my back to talk to Daniel and what? Tell him I’m an emotional mess and you don’t wanna deal with it anymore so you need him to do something for me? You went and fought my battles for me?”

“I did it to help you, Luke,” I argued, suddenly on the defensive.

“I don’t need your help! I don’t need you to make me look weaker than I already do and I definitely don’t need you running off to the boss when you think you know what I need. You don’t. Let me handle things on my own.” With that, Luke turned on his heel and starting walking away, leaving me behind.

I stood there for a moment, stunned, trying to ignore the tears in my eyes and the shakiness of my breathing. Luke took one glance back over his shoulder at me right before he turned the corner, heading down a different hallway, before shaking his head and moving on. When he was finally gone, I sucked in a deep breath and walked the opposite way, toward my own room.

=========================

Luke didn’t talk to me for a week. Every time we saw each other in the back at a live event, he would walk away, leaving me to just stare at him as he left. It was killing me for him to be this angry at me, especially when all I was trying to do was help. I wanted him to understand that I wasn’t doing it for anything other than to make him happy, to make him feel wanted and worth something. Instead, all I had done was make him withdraw into himself even more, a scowl permanently affixed to his face. Guilt plagued my every waking moment and I couldn’t get the look of his bewildered face out of my mind when I told him that I talked to Daniel.

I was sure that Luke and I were done, our friendship was ruined for good. But I didn’t take into account Daniel’s promise.

At Smackdown that next week, there was an odd hush over the backstage area near the middle of the show. In a time that everyone was normally rowdy and loud, the silence was deafening. One look down the hallway off of catering told me why. Everyone was crowded around the green screen, watching Luke and Erick film a promo. The Bludgeon Brothers, they were calling themselves, and it was obvious they were ready to enter the tag division whenever they wanted.

Seeing the obvious happiness in Luke’s eyes as the cameras cut off and he turned to Erick was enough to make the possibility that Luke would never talk to me again worth it. At least I knew he was happy. That was the most important thing to me. It would be nice to see him happy backstage again rather than hiding out in a dark corner by himself.

As Luke and Erick moved away, talking to the group of people crowded around them, I turned to head back to catering. I already felt weird enough watching them, especially with me knowing how mad Luke was at me.

What I didn’t expect was a hand on my shoulder, urging me to turn around.

“Hey,” Luke said, voice quiet.

“Um, hey,” I replied, head cocked to the side. “What’s up?”

“Do you have time to talk?”

“Yes!” I blurted out, almost before he finished the question.

With a small smile, Luke led the way to his locker room, letting silence linger between us. Only this time, the silence wasn’t weird or charged with anger. Instead, it was comfortable, the way silence can be only when in the company of a close friend. I took that as a good sign, a sign that Luke wasn’t still angry at me.

“I’m sorry,” Luke said as soon as the door to his locker room shut behind us.

“It’s fine,” I assured him, small smile on my face. “I know that you were stressed about everything. I’m sorry for going behind your back to talk to Daniel. I should’ve talked to you first.”

“No, you talking to Daniel was what I needed. Now I’m back with Erick, someone I’m comfortable with. And this gets him out of his slump, too. Thank you for doing that for me - for us.” By now, Luke had removed his hood from earlier, joining the bulky overcoat he wore for his promo in the back corner of the room.

“I’m just glad I get to see you happy again.” The smile on my face grew, seeing Luke back to being himself. He was happy to be there, happy to know that he had a purpose, drive, now. And that made me happier than he would ever know.

“All thanks to you,” he said, stepping closer to me. One of his hands came up to cup my cheek before he leaned in, pressing his lips against mine softly. “Thank you,” he repeated as he pulled away.

I didn’t say anything in return, instead pulling him back towards me. This time, I initiated the kiss, feeling Luke smile into it.


End file.
